HELLO, IT'S ME!

Goodness, two months have passed since my last blog post!  This year has been a doozie of a roller coaster with more ups and downs than I've ever had in my life, but the Lord has been so faithful to sustain and be with us through it all.  Although the blog has been on the back burner, I've still been checking in periodically on Instagram.  I know a number of you aren't on social media, though, so I thought a little catch up post full of all the things was in order before I jump back in to sharing house and seasonal posts.  I'm trying to get back in the swing of posting here and am hoping to get back to several posts per week.  

Gorgeous August birthday bouquet from my sister's flower garden @BlackrockHill

So earlier this year I shared a big post about my Dad's illness, a tornado, and my upcoming surgery then just 6 weeks later my Dad's sudden death during his treatment, followed by a few words about his funeral.  Ray and I celebrated our 29th Anniversary later that week, then I had my surgery a few days later.  

It was a torn rotator cuff tendon repair which included my bicep tendon as well (on my dominant arm 😩).  Everything went well with the surgery but it is such a long recovery for this one, I know many of you can relate.  I'm 13 weeks post surgery and still going to PT twice a week.  My range of motion and strength capabilities are improving but I'm struggling with getting my hand/arm moving behind my back the way it should.  I'm pressing on, though, and faithfully doing the exercises I need to do at home every day.

One of the hardest parts was not being able to reach my hair for over six weeks!  I wore plenty of hats and could go for about a week in between washes.   Ray and Caleb learned how to put in a ponytail for me and I taught Caleb how to tease it... ha!  Valuable skills for them to learn!  Emily was away for a time and couldn't help out, so I even recruited one of my daughter's friends and our sweet neighbor to curl my hair a few times, they were lifesavers! 

Caleb graduated in May and passed his NCLEX exam in June so he's officially an RN.  He accepted his first choice job offer and is now working in the ER of a local hospital, getting all kinds of experience!

Emily spent 3 weeks in Poland over the Summer working at the orphan camp where we all served at last Summer.  She loves this place and the people there so much! It was a long trip to do on her own (she went with a group of students but without any family) and I'm so proud of her!  

At the end of the Summer we moved her in and got her settled in to yet another new place to live this year.  She is enjoying her Junior year and staying very busy with her Accounting major, a job, campus clubs, friends, and playing basketball on the Women's Club Team.   

(We had to buy her a bed this year- this frame, this mattress, and this topper are working out great!)

(still finishing up here but cute!)

It's been about a year since I shared the news of my son's engagement, and we're finally quickly approaching the wedding date!  Sweet friends and family have generously hosted several showers for them.  Some friends of our family hosted a shower for our side and it was such fun- it was a casual couples shower with a "disc golf" theme, my son's current favorite sport to play!  There was a 6 hole course set up around the property and my friends set up the cutest welcome table complementing the theme.   One of the hostesses got some of their engagement photos and had them made into buttons for everyone to wear, added personalized stickers to frisbees to send home as party favors, and ordered golf pencils with personalized scorecards.  So fun! 

My Green Dress

The next weekend, Ray was recognized for his 20th Anniversary of ministry on staff at Quail Springs Baptist Church.  

He began as the Minister of Education and for the past 14 years has been the Executive Pastor.  Our daughter was 3 months old when we started serving here, so truly all of our life events that the kids can remember have been with this sweet church.  It seems like yesterday but also SO much has happened in those 20 years that we've walked through together.  We are incredibly grateful for how the Lord has allowed us this time to raise our family here and invest our lives in this place with this wonderful church body. 

My Dress  ||  I found Emily's dress on the clearance rack at Cracker Barrel!

I’m so very proud of Ray, his true heart to serve the Lord and genuinely love and serve the people in every way, and for how he has led our family so well along the way at the same time. So thankful for our church and how they have loved our family faithfully over the years! If you're interested in watching, here's a video about Ray that our incredible communications team shared in the services to commemorate the day-

As I mentioned, the wedding is very soon so I'm working on getting everything prepared for the Rehearsal Dinner we'll host the night before.  It will be very casual with a BBQ dinner and I'm planning to use my black and white tablecloths, I'll share photos with you afterwards.

Finally, here's a bit of news I haven't shared anywhere yet, and the reason why in combination with the wedding the next month is so busy!  Shortly after the wedding, Ray and I are going to Israel!  This opportunity came up out of the blue.  I told Ray a while back that we needed to plan a trip for after the wedding, I was thinking along the lines of sit on the beach and do nothing for a few days... 😂  but several months ago this opportunity popped up.  Ray is still close with his tight friend group from college, and one of them works for a company that puts together big events/trips.  If you're familiar, for example they've planned the KLOVE Christian music cruises, and this is the friend that also organized the HGTV Design cruise with the Property Brothers several years ago where I was a guest blogger (so fun!).  All that to say she knows what she's doing!  She's had the opportunity to make some connections in Israel, so she planned a trip for a small group of us to go together- mainly OBU college friends and a few friends of friends that are joining in.  We have never been before and thought even though the timing is tight, we couldn't say no!  It will be great to have this adventure with a small group of good friends.  We're so excited, I've just got to figure out what to pack. Our schedule is set but give me all of your tips if you've been to the Holy Land! 

Thanks so much for being here and reading though such sporadic posts this year.  Again, this next month is still actually really busy but I'm trying to get back on track with posting, and then we're off to the races through the holidays which is always super fun on the blog! Appreciate you all! 

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